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WWE NXT
|country=United States |network=Syfy (February 23, 2010 – September 28, 2010) Webcast (October 5, 2010 – Present) |first_aired=February 23, 2010 |last_aired=Present |num_seasons=3 |num_episodes=39 (as of November 16, 2010) |related=''WWE Raw'' WWE SmackDown WWE Superstars |website=http://nxt.wwe.com }} WWE NXT is a professional wrestling television program produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) which debuted on February 23, 2010. Described as a hybrid between reality television and WWE's scripted live event shows, the premise of the show follows select talent contracted to WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in a competition to become WWE's next breakout star with the help of mentors from WWE's Raw and SmackDown brands. The show originally made its debut on Syfy in February 2010. Less than a month after its premiere, it was announced that WWE SmackDown would move from MyNetworkTV to Syfy in October. NXT aired its final episode on Syfy on September 28 to make way for SmackDown, and began airing as a webcast at WWE.com for visitors from the United States on October 5. Outside of the United States, the show is still televised. Format WWE NXT pairs up wrestlers from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (dubbed "Rookies") with wrestlers from WWE's existing Raw and SmackDown brands (dubbed "Pros"). Each episode features the Rookies being mentored by the Pros as they develop their characters and performance skills in front of a live audience. The pairings also enable the show to crossover into WWE's Raw and SmackDown programs. As the length of each season differs, features of the competition occur at different times accordingly. Weekly challenges In addition to matches, weekly challenges are held during the competition to further test the Rookies' physical and mental skills. Past physical challenges include a keg carrying contest, an assault course contest and a "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em" tournament. Past non-physical challenges include making 30-second promos on a given topic and selling programs within a time limit. During seasons 1 and 2, the winner of the weekly challenge receives a special prize such as a main event match, a talk show segment or a feature on WWE's official website. One of the more frequent prizes given out to the winner is an "Immunity Pass", which gives the holder immunity from elimination in the next round of polls. Season 3 saw a greater emphasis on challenges with two challenges held each week. Instead of awarding prizes to the winner of the challenges, a cumulative tally of challenge wins is instead recorded with the winner of the most challenges before the each upcoming poll awarded immunity. In the result of a tie-break, the audience is then asked to vote for the Rookie they want to get immunity. Polls and eliminations In various weeks, polls are held and evaluate the success of each Rookie and determine the winner of the competition. The poll rankings are entirely determined by votes from the Pros and starting from season 2, votes from fans via WWE's official website. In the Pros' votes, each of the Pros vote for their favorite Rookie, but cannot vote for their own Rookie. Their votes are based on the following four criteria: * Win-loss record within the show * Strength of opponents * Work ethic * "It" factor Initially in seasons 1 and 2, the full results and rankings from the poll were revealed. However since Week 11 in season 2, only the elimination is revealed. The first poll, usually held a third of the way through the competition, determines the Rookies' rankings. Subsequent polls are held several weeks later near the end of the season, where the lowest ranked Rookie without immunity is eliminated. Season 2 was set to use this format, but was changed to have the first poll an elimination poll. Season 3 will also use the second season's format. The show continues until the season finale, where final two or three Rookies appear. One or two final polls are then held to determine the winner of the competition. The prize for the winner is a (kayfabe) WWE contract as well as a championship match at any pay-per-view against any champion of their choosing. Outside of the polls, Rookies can still be eliminated via an executive decision from WWE management. Season 1 saw Michael Tarver and Daniel Bryan eliminated by management for a lack of self-confidence. Seasons Season 1 |last_aired = |num_episodes = 15 }} The first season of NXT began airing on Syfy on February 23, 2010 and ended on June 1, 2010. The majority of the season 1 cast was revealed a week before the premiere on the series finale of ECW. However, before the season's premiere aired, Skip Sheffield's Pro was changed with William Regal replacing the announced Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). Near the end of the season, several changes were made to the original plan of the format. The season was shortened from the planned 17 episodes to 15 episodes. In the first elimination episode on May 11, both Michael Tarver and Daniel Bryan were eliminated by WWE Management and removed from that night's Pros' Poll after both made comments about wanting to be voted off. The show ended with three eliminations, with Sheffield ranked last in the Poll. Carlito was released on May 21 for refusing rehab after violating WWE's Wellness Program. Subsequent Pros' Polls were held without him for the rest of the season. The winner of season 1 was Wade Barrett, who began performing on the Raw brand. Immediately after the conclusion of season 1, the Rookies were used in a storyline that had them forming an alliance called the Nexus. Led by Barrett, the group invaded the Raw show in an attempt to gain WWE contracts for the losers of NXT season 1. The invasion consisted of the group attacking then WWE Champion John Cena as well as other wrestlers and WWE personnel. Daniel Bryan was (legitimately) released from his contract when he strangled ring announcer Justin Roberts with Roberts' tie during the first ambush, which WWE reportedly felt was too violent for their TV-PG programming. His release was put in a storyline, where the rest of the NXT rookies kicked him out of the group for showing remorse for his actions and declared he wouldn't be seen in the WWE ever again. The group were eventually all signed to Raw, but continued their disruption of the show, including an attack on WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Bryan eventually returned to WWE two months later at SummerSlam, when he became the surprise seventh member of Team WWE in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match against The Nexus. After their initial attacks, Barrett along with the other Nexus members were barred from competing for a WWE championship. However, more than a month later, the ban was lifted and Barrett announced that he would invoke his title shot at Night of Champions for the WWE Championship in a Six-Pack Challenge. At the event, Barrett lost in his title match to Randy Orton. Meanwhile at the same event, Bryan became the first Rookie to win a WWE championship when he defeated his former pro, The Miz, for the WWE United States Championship. Contestants Poll results : – Winner of competition : – Safe in competition : – Eliminated from competition by Pros' Poll : – Eliminated from competition by WWE management : – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated } |- !Heath Slater |style="background:#CCFFCC"|4th |style="background:#CCFFCC"|4th |style="background:#CCFFCC"|3rd |style="background:#FFCCCC"|4th |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- !Darren Young |style="background:#CCFFCC"|8th |style="background:#CCFFCC"|5th |style="background:#FFCCCC"|5th |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- !Skip Sheffield |style="background:#CCFFCC"|6th |style="background:#FFCCCC"|6th |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- !Daniel Bryan |style="background:#CCFFCC"|1st |style="background:#E6CCFF"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- !Michael Tarver |style="background:#CCFFCC"|7th |style="background:#E6CCFF"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- class="sortbottom" style="border-top:3px solid #AAA;" !Eliminated |N/A |Tarver, Bryan, & Sheffield |Young |Slater |Gabriel |Otunga |} Season 2 |last_aired = |num_episodes = 13 }} The second season of NXT started on June 8, 2010 and ended on August 31, 2010. The season 2 cast was revealed on the first season finale on June 1, 2010. The season was originally planned to last twelve weeks. However, it was later extended to thirteen weeks. In this season, the polls were different as rankings were based half on Pro votes and half on votes from fans via WWE's official website. The first poll was shown in Week 4. Originally, the polls format was set to match season 1, with a non-elimination poll followed by weekly elimination polls three weeks later. However, the first poll was made a surprise elimination round on the night with a second elimination poll held four weeks later instead. In addition, a double elimination stipulation was added to the fourth NXT poll in Week 11. The winner of the season was Kaval, who began performing on the SmackDown brand. Along with Kaval, Alex Riley was immediately promoted to a WWE brand, aiding his Pro, The Miz, on Raw. Over a month later at Hell in a Cell, both Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris made their first appearance since the second season by helping Wade Barrett win his match against John Cena while disguised as fans. A few weeks later, the two were made members of the Nexus. Contestants Poll results : – Winner of competition : – Safe in competition : – Eliminated from competition by NXT Poll : – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated } |- !Percy Watson |style="background:#CCFFCC"|2nd |style="background:#CCFFCC"|4th |style="background:#CCFFCC"|3rd |style="background:#FFCCCC"|5th |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- !Lucky Cannon |style="background:#CCE6FF"|5th |style="background:#CCFFCC"|5th |style="background:#FFCCCC"|6th |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- !Eli Cottonwood |style="background:#CCFFCC"|6th |style="background:#FFCCCC"|7th |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- !Titus O'Neil |style="background:#FFCCCC"|8th |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- class="sortbottom" style="border-top:3px solid #AAA;" !Eliminated |O'Neil |Cottonwood |Cannon |Watson & Harris |Riley & McGillicutty |} Season 3 |last_aired = |num_episodes = 13 }} The third season of NXT started on September 7, 2010 and will end on November 30, 2010. The season is Diva-exclusive and is the second contest produced by WWE to find a new Diva, the first being the WWE Diva Search held between 2003 and 2007. The first four episodes of season 3 were aired on Syfy. Due to the debut of SmackDown on Syfy in October 2010, NXT left the channel and became a webcast at WWE.com for visitors from the United States from the fifth episode onwards. A new interactive website for NXT was also launched at the beginning of the season to accommodate the move. The majority of the season 3 cast was revealed on the second season finale on August 31, 2010. However, before the season's premiere aired, prospective Rookie Diva Aloisia was dropped from the show. On screen, Aloisia's exit stemmed from an argument between Aloisia and her Pro, Vickie Guerrero, forcing Guerrero to fire her. In real life, it was reported that Aloisia was allegedly dropped from the show after Amazon fetish photos of her were leaked onto the Internet. However in an interview, Aloisia herself is unsure whether this was the reason for her exit or not. Guerrero later revealed her new Rookie Diva in the season 3 premiere to be Kaitlyn. Other changes in the third season include a greater emphasis on challenges where the winner of the most challenges before the next upcoming poll would be awarded immunity. The first elimination poll took place five weeks into the competition. Contestants Poll results : – Safe in competition : – Eliminated from competition by NXT Poll : – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated } |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- !Maxine |style="background:#CCFFCC"| |style="background:#FFCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |- !Jamie |style="background:#FFCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |style="background:#CCCCCC"| |} As the result of a tie break between A.J. and Kaitlyn before the poll, Kaitlyn won immunity through a crowd reaction vote.}} On-air personalities Host Commentators Ring announcers Production On February 2, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that a new weekly program would replace the canceled ECW in its time slot on Syfy. McMahon described the show as "the next evolution of WWE; the next evolution of television history." On the February 4, 2010 episode of WWE Superstars, the new show's name was announced as WWE NXT. The name was later discovered to be trademarked already in the United Kingdom by National Wrestling Alliance affiliate Scottish Wrestling Alliance (SWA) which also used "NXT" as their brand for upcoming stars. Both parties ultimately reached an agreement that resulted in SWA releasing the "NXT" trademark in favor of a new one before the show's debut. The show's format was revealed in an article by Variety on February 16, with a press release from WWE made shortly later that day. NXT is the second reality-base] series produced by WWE, the first being WWE Tough Enough which aired between 2001 to 2004. Due to WWE's nature of airing weekly shows without hiatus, the current plan for NXT is to split the year's set of episodes into two or three seasons. During seasons 1 and 2, the show's opening theme song was "Wild and Young" by American Bang. In season 3, the show's opening theme song is "You Make the Rain Fall" by Kevin Rudolf. Also promoting it as an "official theme song" for the show, WWE NXT used "Get Thru This" by Art of Dying as bumper music during all three seasons of the show. In March 2010, WWE announced that their show WWE SmackDown would move to Syfy in October, with NXT leaving the network at the same time. The show aired its final episode on Syfy on September 28. Shortly after their March announcement, WWE also stated their intent of looking for another channel to broadcast the show. Despite their initial comments, WWE began to air the show as a webcast on their official website for American visitors as of October 2010. According to Greg Sansone of NXT's Canadian broadcaster, The Score Television Network, WWE will produce a fourth season of NXT that will begin in December, reverting back to male contestants like the first two seasons. International broadcasters Outside of the United States, NXT is televised on a number of channels in many different countries. See also *Florida Championship Wrestling *World Wrestling Entertainment roster (NXT Rookies) *WWE Diva Search *WWE Raw *WWE SmackDown *WWE Tough Enough References External links * * [http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt WWE NXT at WWE.com] * [http://www.syfy.com/nxt WWE NXT at Syfy.com] * * * Category:WWE NXT NXT